Wild Wild Creek
by Lord Zeppelin
Summary: When a rough-riding new kid comes to the Creek, it sparks a new craze among the children of the neighborhood. Join Craig and the gang as they take part in the Cowboy Craze sweeping the Creek!
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome one and all to the second ever Craig of The Creek fanfiction! (I would've been the first, but I'm slow like that. :P) I love this show a lot (Best show on CN right now) and I've been wanting to do a story for it for a while now but couldn't because there was no section for this cartoon. Luckily, the second I found out they added one, I went to work immediately! Hope you all enjoy and with that, we begin!**

* * *

The sun had risen over the horizon to the east as the beginning of what was to be a clear and beautiful Saturday morning began. For the boy known as Craig Williams, it was the start of another adventure for him and his friends, Kelsey and JP. After waking up bright and early and having breakfast while watching his fill of Saturday morning cartoons, Craig got washed, dressed and left out the front door in a hurry, giving a rushed "Bye!" to his family as he ran towards The Stump to meet up with the gang.

As soon as each kid arrived, they began to make their plans for the day. However, just as they were finalizing what they were going to do, JP's stomach rumbled.

"Oops, sorry guys. I was in a bit of a rush to get here I forgot to finish breakfast," JP said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

"Are you mad, man!?" Kelsey exclaimed in her dramatic fashion, "You should never skip the most important meal of the day!"

"Relax, Kelsey," Craig cut in, "We'll just head over to the Trading Tree and pick up some snacks before heading out."

"Fine. But if JP tries to eat one of us on the way, he shall taste my steel!" Kelsey said, drawing her PVC pipe sword from its makeshift scabbard.

"I would argue with you about the fact you think I would try that, but I'm too hungry for it," JP said as the trio made their way to The Trading Tree.

* * *

"Two bags of chips, please," JP said as he set down a small green ball on Kit's counter. She tested its bounce by throwing it lightly against the table, causing it to bounce nearly twice the height it was dropped before she caught it in her hand once more.

"Very nice," She said, already thinking about what she can trade the ball for later on as she retrieved the pair of chip bags from the shelf behind her and gave them to JP.

"Thanks. See you around, Kit!" Craig said as the group took their leave and Kit served the next customer.

"So, where to next, Craig?" JP asked as he and Kelsey looked over their friend's shoulder as he took out his map.

However, as they read over the piece of paper, they began to hear a noise over the sounds from the trading post.

"Y'all hear that?" JP asked, ceasing his crunching as he and his friends listened closely.

It sounded like footsteps followed closely by the soft jingle-jangle of metal, and it seemed to be getting closer with each passing second.

Less than a minute after they started hearing the noise, they discovered the source of it as it come walking, or rather striding, out of the bushes.

Before them stood a boy of about eleven, maybe twelve years old by Craig's estimate. They were awestruck by his appearance as he was dressed head-to-toe in cowboy attire. He wore a black stetson hat atop his head, a red striped poncho over his midsection, blue jeans with small tears in the fabric, and finally, they found the source of the noise attached to his feet in the form of a pair of leather cowboy boots complete with spurs on the heels.

He looked up, revealing his face to the trio of children. He had fair features, but his eyes told of a boy who's seen a lot in his short life. He glanced around him before making his way forward, passing by the trio and tipping his hat as he did.

"Howdy," He said in a low tone of voice as he made his way towards the counter, drawing eyes toward this new arrival to the creek at large.

Everyone in the area around the tree looked in awe of this new kid. The way he carried himself emitted an aura of confidence the likes of which few of them have seen, if ever. The boy finally made it to the counter where Kit quickly shook off the shock and greeted her new customer.

"Well hey there, stranger," Kit said with a small smile, "Welcome to The Trading Tree. What can I get you?"

"Apple juice," He replied in a quiet, almost stoic tone, "Ice cold if you got it."

"You got anything to trade?" Kit asked.

Not saying a word, the kid reached into his pants pocket before placing its contents on the table. Moving his hand away, he revealed it to be two Quarters; a whole fifty cents.

"I hope that covers it," The boy said.

While Kit usually took items and such in exchange for her wares, it was rare to see someone pay with actual money. To say she was both happy and surprised would be an understatement.

"Here you go, kid. One frosty cold apple juice," Kit said, taking the juice box from the cooler and passing it to the boy, who promptly stuck the straw in and began to drink its contents.

After the initial shock of seeing this new creek kid had worn off, the other children began to whisper or talk among themselves, most of the chatter being different versions of the same three questions:

_"Where was he from?"_

_"How long has he been in the neighborhood?"_

And most importantly

_"Who was he?"_

* * *

**And that ends the first chapter of my first Craig of The Creek story. I apologize if it's a bit short for you, but I wanted to get this out as quick as possible because I wanted to forge this story while the iron was hot (so to speak). Next chapter will introduce the new kid properly and give a little background on him, as well as introduce the Inciting Action of the story.**

**Until then, hope you all enjoyed, and I will see you all next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome one and all to the second chapter of Wild Wild Creek. Most of what I have to say will be saved for the end notes, so until then, enjoy!  
**

* * *

As the gang heard all the scattered chattering of the kids around them, Kelsey decided on doing something about finding out the identity of this new kid and answer the children's questions.

"Craig, you should ask him who he is," She said in a whisper.

"What? Why me?" Craig whispered in slight panic, looking to the short, sword-wielding adventurer.

"Well someone has to do it, and you always seem to be the person to incite these kinds of things, so it makes sense," Kelsey shrugged.

"Yeah, I mean you are the main character," JP said.

"What?" Craig and Kelsey asked.

"Huh?" JP asked back, as if he was confused by his own words as they were.

"Just go ask him who he is already!" Kelsey whispered harshly, pushing her friend towards the cowboy at the counter.

Craig gulped and he walks forward slowly to the western-themed boy. Thoughts of what to say ran through his head, they, of course, are all normal questions, it was just a matter of how to ask them without being nervous or sounding stupid.

When he finally made it to the boy, he just quickly blurted out, "Howdy!" before internally face-palming at his own nervous stupidity.

The boy placed down his juice box before slowly turning around to look at the boy behind him, his steely gaze inspecting the nervous Craig as the young Williams boy felt as though he was about to pass out from fear due to how scary this kid before him was.

That all changed when the kid gave a warm smile and his eyes softened as he moved his right arm out from his poncho and presented his hand.

"Well hey howdy hey to you too, partner," He said in a welcoming tone, his voice holding a form of Southern accent that was a bit like JP's, but a bit more refined-sounding.

Seeing his hand out, Craig took the invitation and shook the boy's hand.

Upon seeing that the boy was actually quite friendly, the kids around the Trading Tree moved a bit closer to meet the new kid.

"It's nice to meet you. It's not often we get new kids at The Creek," Craig said with a small smile as the two boys took their hands back, "I'm Craig, by the way."

"Nice to meet ya, partner. Name's Marston. Clint Marston," The cowboy kid now known as Clint said as he removed his hat, revealing his chestnut brown, neck-length hair to the people around as he put his stetson to his chest and gave a small bow of greeting, some of the kids whispering small comments on his politeness.

"Nice to meet you, Clint," Craig said as his friends came up from behind him, "These two are my friends, Kelsey and JP," He introduced before Mortimer gave a small tweet from atop Kelsey's noggin.

"Oh, and this is Kelsey's trusty pet bird, Mortimer," Craig said, quickly correcting his introduction.

"Nice to meet ya," JP said, rolling up his sleeve to shake Clint's hand.

"Pleasure's all mine," Clint said before tipping his hat to Kelsey, "Nice to meet you too, madam."

'Madam? Kelsey was never referred to in such a way. True, she was female, but never had she been called something so formal. Her exploits always had her being referred to by her given and nicknames by her friends and less than savory names by her enemies…' Kelsey said within her mind novel, looking off into the distance as Clint simply stood there, wondering why she had yet to respond.

"... Is she okay?" He asked the others.

"Oh, she's just doing an inner monologue. You get used to it," Craig said, waving it off as if it were normal.

Seeming to accept the answer without much question, Clint nodded his head and returned his attention to Craig.

"You know, y'all are the first kids I've had the honor of properly introducing myself to. I guess the whole getup is a little off puttin', huh?" He said with a scratch on the back of his head and a nervous chuckle.

"Are you kidding? You look awesome! Like an actual cowboy straight out of the movies!" Craig exclaimed with stars in his eyes.

"Shucks, thanks partner. But whatcha mean 'like'? I am a cowboy! Born and raised out west all my life!" He said as he dramatically threw the front of his poncho over his left shoulder, revealing that underneath was a long, curled up rope and holster holding a silver-colored revolver pistol with a neon orange muzzle, signifying it was fake.

Quick as a flash, Clint drew his pistol from its holster and expertly twirled it around his index finger as he threw his now empty juice box into the air before aiming up and fired three rapid shots at the cardboard target, keeping it airborne for a couple extra seconds before it fell to the ground at Craig and the gang's feet. Hesitating a moment, Craig went to pick it up and found three still wet paint splotches across the front, back, and side of the juice box.

"Three shots," Clint said as he unwrapped a lollipop and popped into his mouth, "Three hits," he finished coolly.

The kids around the area were awestruck at his show of skill and marksmanship before an eruption of cheers exploded around them.

"I haven't seen marksmanship like that since before Corporal Jimmy moved away!" Paintball Mike exclaimed, fondly remembering the young sniper.

"He's just like Spike Spiegel!" One of Ninja Kids said.

"He has the build of a plow horse, but the charm of a race horse," Mackenzie whispered almost dreamily before shaking her head and snapping herself out of her stupor.

"There ain't much to it. All you gotta do is know where the target's gonna be at, keep a steady aim, and squeeze the trigger," Clint said, taking his lollipop out of his mouth.

Slowly, more and more kids began to praise and gather around the young cowboy. Much like how the miners of old would get excited by the appearance of gold or silver, the children of the Creek watched the young cowboy with excitement.

"Wow, he really got popular fast," JP said with a whistle.

"Yeah, I had no idea gunslingers were so popular. I always preferred the honor and fire of the life of the sword," Kelsey said, giving her sword a small twirl before planting it on the ground like a cane.

"Maybe Clint will be a good influence on the creek. He seems like a really nice," Craig said before glancing at his map of the creek.

All would think that the actions of the new kid in the creek would not bring about any problems. Sadly, like in any old cowboy film, trouble wasn't far behind for the heroes of the story.

* * *

**I apologize deeply for the delay that this chapter took. Writer's block and life got in the way. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and hope to see you all again soon.**


End file.
